Good holiday read.

I read some comments about Puller being too heroic. I didn’t see the credence in that though, considering he had to enlist the help of his brother, and he didn’t get the girl.

I feel for Sam though, was that really necessary? Surely she deserved a good ending.
Well I suppose that’s one of the aspects that make the story more tangible.

Anyway, good enjoyable read.
Thanks NetGalley and Pan Macmillan for a review copy.

David Baldacci is a brilliant author. I have read most of his books and love them all. I have read all 4 of the John Puller series and they are each an excellent read both as a set and on their own. John Puller is a likeable good guy. The books are an easy read and pull you in from the first page. They are very hard to put down until you have finished.

I have read a few books by this author and have never been disappointed until now. I was really looking forward to it as well So I am doubly disappointed. Now I normally do not have any issue with this authors writing style until now. Since when has it been ok to talk in very short sentences. If this was an audio book I get the feeling the narrator would speak to me slowly.

Also, no offense but this has been done before. Too many times before. The main character is Puller who is a highly decorated and obviously has issues regarding PTSD. He saves a lot of people but remembers the one's he couldn't save.

Puller is a good guy. The bad guys in this book are evil. When Puller go's on an investigation the guy has this bottomless pit rucksack that seems to hold everything he needs. Think Reacher. I saw Tom Cruise everywhere.

The story isn't too bad. But I like Baldacci when he keeps you guessing. This was kind of obvious. It's a good action novel just kind off predictable. Enjoy!


*ARC provided by publisher via NetGalley*

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2065775222

https://www.amazon.co.uk/review/RTH2B8HFLLLDJ/ref=pe_1572281_66412651_cm_rv_eml_rv0_rv

Clearly a lot of research has gone into the book, especially near the start. Detracts a bit from the story.

Fast paced thriller about an army investigator. Very bloody and gruesome murder/details. Sadly this book couldn't really grab my attention, like so many other books by David Baldacci. I chose to read this book and all opinions in this review are my own and completely unbiased. Thanks to NetGalley and Pan Macmillan!

would like to that netgalley and the publisher for letting me read this book

not a bad one very similar to jack reacher...a bit to technical for me in places but on the whole a brilliant read...and also wanted to find out who the bad guys were..

enjoyed getting to know puller and cant wait to read the others in this series

A mysterious and complex investigation turns a rural town into a hot killing field. It's the role of the local force and an army veteran to solve the mysterious killings, and the shocking true behind them.

Original plotline that absorbed me from start to finish. Great core characters that had me rooting for them. I'm quite surprised by some of the poor reviews for this book as in my opinion, this is quite unputdownable. I look forward to reading more by Baldacci in the John Puller series.

Many thanks to Netgalley who provided me with this ARC. I chose to read it and give a voluntary and unbiased review.

This is the first in the John Puller series by the prolific David Baldacci. Unlike James Patterson who seems to get somebody else to write his books, this author appears to write his own. I hope this is the case but there are so many I am wondering how he can manage to churn them out so quickly.

John Puller is an army investigator. He has a brother also in the army, but currently in jail for high treason, and their father was a legend in the army but now in a home suffering from dementia. So we have our lone hero, very similar in stature and character it seems to me to another American Hero, Jack Reacher in the series by Lee Child. These lone men, who say little, are unswerving in their search for the truth and lack of commitment can, after a while, become slightly boring. But there is no denying that the stories are well written and positively race along with deaths, bombings, shootings, narrow escapes et al. They do stretch the bounds of credulity at times especially when there are double, treble, quadruple villains and agents all over the place and nearly everybody turns out to be not who they are. Again, if you read a lot of this author's books. and I have, this can get a tad tedious.

In this one John Puller is called in to a coal mining town in Virginia where the local postman had come across a gruesome mass murder when he tries to deliver a package. Seems the father, an army man, had stumbled across something he should not have done and tried to contact his superiors. This is a dangerous secret and so he and his family are eliminated. Near the town is an abandoned army facility, sealed and closed. Nobody knows quite what is in there - can this be the reason for the murders and the others that follow?

As I said the story positively gallops along and it is compulsive reading, once you start you cannot put these stories down. I only discovered this author recently and am on a binge read at the moment. I know I am soon going to run out!

A rattling yarn

Thank you to Netgalley for the opportunity to preview this book. A really good storyline, with some complex and interesting characters I cared about.
The book focuses on Puller, the main character, Who is placed in a difficult situation which he doesn't question due to his army training.
With murder, intrigue and small town America relationships, this is a well written story and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

I haven't read many books by this author and this is the first of a series featuring a new character - John Puller. Whilst I enjoyed reading this (a light sortof a read for a rainy Sunday afternoon), as others have pointed out - the main character did remind me of the hero of another series of books by another well-known author! Having said that, Puller was different in many ways (some believable, some not), and will no doubt be developed further as the series progresses, and I'd read another to see how that works out...

Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for allowing me to read this in return for my honest review.

At first, John Puller really annoyed me. He came across as monumentally arrogant, with not a scrap of humility. I can't quite put my finger on whether it was down to his own actions and dialogue, or the narrative descriptions of him. In any event, for the first ten chapters or so I was no fan of Puller's.

But then I unexpectedly started warming to him. And again, there is no one reason I can pinpoint. It just happened without me even noticing it. He got under my skin. I think that is a true testament to some very good character building. Puller is meant to appear bristly, arrogant, and standoffish to everyone he meets. He is not there to make friends; just to do his job. But everyone who spends any time around him eventually comes around to respecting him and even liking him. He is very blunt at times, but it is clear that he is sincere in his mission to do what is right, and has not a meanspirited bone in his body. He a good egg. Who has an unfortunate affinity for rules and procedure. But then again, he's a career soldier.

The plot has many twists and turns and red herrings thrown in, as can be expected from any decent thriller. It is well executed and left me guessing right to the very end. However, it does meander a bit and I wouldn't go as far as calling it nail-biting in the suspense department.

The meandering has a lot to do with the character building of John Puller. As this was intended as the first book of a series, I can see how it is important to get to know him and his motivations and I actually enjoyed the people aspect of the novel more than the investigation part of it. To me the investigation felt secondary to the human dynamics and Puller's own internal narrative. And I think that's ultimately why I enjoyed the book. I will be reading the other three Puller books in short succession I expect.

A good read. Definitely recommended.

Thank you to the publisher, author, and netgalley for a copy of the book. This is an honest review.

I had the opportunity to read the third title in the John Puller series (The Escape) a while ago and always wanted to begin at the beginning and I’ve finally managed it!

Zero Day is thoroughly entertaining and a thrill a minute adventure, it was great to see how John Puller came to be, learn about his brother and father, both military men of some distinction but now in prison and ill health. But the great thing about this series is that you don’t have to read the books in order to enjoy.

John Puller is called out to a remote town called Drake, a town steeped in the coal county in West Virginia, to solve the murder of a family of four. Little does he know that the body count will increase within hours of his arrival and a brutal murder becomes a lot more complicated and urgent. There’s more at stake than solving a crime, the fate of the United States hangs perilously in the balance and it’s left to Puller to save the day. But can he?!

Puller is a terrific character and there are the obvious comparisons drawn with him and Jack Reacher but despite this he’s still a great protagonist and someone you root for from beginning to end. Really enjoyed his attitude and his mannerisms and quirks. He’s a colourful character who doesn’t suffer fools gladly.

His relationship with Sam Cole is an endearing part of the book.

Great pace, enjoyable storyline and well crafted. Definitely recommended.

A splendid tale with real surprises.

Hugely engaging and quite unexpected.

Thanks to NetGalley and to the publisher, MacMillan, for offering me an ARC copy of this book that I freely chose to review.
David Baldacci is one of these authors whose names a reader (and even a non-reader) cannot escape. His books are widely distributed and he always seems to have a volume or two in the bestsellers list (no, not the Amazon one on a little-known genre, but the real thing). Despite all that (or perhaps because of it, as sometimes some names seem so familiar that I feel as if I had already read/watched or whatever it is they do, them before) I had never read any of his books. I saw that coinciding with a book launch, NetGalley was offering a copy of the first book in the John Puller series, and I decided perhaps it was time I read him. (I don’t have any specific opinions on best sellers as such and I don’t necessarily avoid them as a matter of principle but I do prefer to discover them early on, so I can make my own mind up).
The story, narrated in the third person, mostly follows John Puller, a military investigator that is all you probably would wish for in such a character. He has complex family relations (including a genius brother imprisoned for life for treason), he has seen his share of combat and has the medals and the scars to prove them, he is as skilled at fighting as he is at investigating, and although usually he works as part of a team, he can be a one-man-band when required (as is the case here). There are some moments (like the first chapter) when we follow other characters, but this is for a very good reason, and we, by and far, experience the events from Puller’s perspective. Of course, that does not mean we know everything he knows, because the book hides information at times and that means there are some surprises (the number of surprises might depend on how close your attention and on how many books of the genre you have read). The story is a combination of a spy story with highly skilled military investigator/hero in charge, and a more standard police procedural, with big secrets, conspiracies, and environmental issues thrown in for good measure. There are hints of a possible romance, but nobody is up to the task, and the time frame is very tight for such developments.
The investigation is very detailed, and we get to know quite a few of the characters in the small West Virginian town of Drake, a coal mining place that has become almost a ghost town due to the environmental and economic consequences of the exploitation and depletion of its resources by the sole industry in the area. Baldacci shares as much loving detail on the way the coal industry works (or at least some far-from-exemplary companies), as he does on everything else: the way the military works, the different roles of the investigating and security agencies and how they interact, the equipment used, the weaponry… This might be too much for some readers, but I am sure it will make others very happy. I did enjoy more the discussions of the environmental issues and the socio-economic effects of the coal-extracting industry than the details about the equipment, but there is plenty of action and intrigue to keep readers of mystery, and also spy novels, entertained.
My favourite character is Sam Cole, the female police officer in charge of the investigation. She has problems of her own and also a difficult relationship with her family, and seems the perfect match for Puller. I would probably have preferred the novel to be about her, but that is not the genre or the focus of it. In many ways, her character is the one that makes us see Puller as something more than a perfect fighting and investigating machine, all professional, and efficient. Yes, he has a cat, some sort of relationships with his father, and an interesting dynamic with his brother, but she is the only person who is not a relative he seems to relate to at a level beyond the casual, and it is not only because it is helpful to his mission.
I agree with comments that the novel is formulaic in many ways (Puller survives several attempts on his life, has to subvert orders and get inventive to save the day and manages to pull an incredible feat at the end), although as I haven’t read other Baldacci’s books, I cannot comment on how much better or worse Puller is compared to some of his other heroes (Reacher is mentioned often in the reviews, sometimes agreeing he’s as good, others denying it). I imagine once you have such a following as an author, you know what your public wants and expects, so it is perhaps naïve to accuse him of writing to a formula. It is not a genre I read often, and I prefer something more distinctive, less heroic, and with a bit of humour.
The book is well paced, the writing supports the story rather than calling attention to itself (as I said, some readers might find there is too much detail, but I doubt his fans will, and after reading the acknowledgements, it is clear that he is well-informed and has had access to first-hand information not many would have), and if you like lone heroes with a conscience, John Puller makes a pretty decent one. Recommended to those who enjoy action novels, spy novels, thrillers, and definitely to Baldacci fans. I am not sure I’d say I’ve become one of them, but I might try another one of his stories at some point.

I like David Baldacci books, have always been page turners for me, and whilst I liked the character of John Puller, he seemed very much like someone I had read about by another author. I won't mention any names.

The book opened well, but then seemed to get bogged down with too many acronyms, which didn't help with the flow of the book, also some of the conversation between Puller and Mason were just one sentence each time, very staccato, which annoyed me.

The other characters were quite forgettable, seemed quite a formulaic book in the end, with nothing new. I would like rucksack with everything in for every eventuality though..........

OK maybe for a beach read, but other than that wouldn't really recommend.

I love David baldacci books especially John puller ones this is a thrilling rollercoaster ride of a book since this I have read the next 3 books in this series
Anyone who loves gripping page turning book but at the same time watch the character s unfold should read these books
Write more please

Having never read a David Baldacci book before I didn't know what to expect but this book blew me away. I loved the characters and the storyline pulled me in without letting go until the last page. I think I have found a new favourite author and I'm off to catch up on the rest of his books.
I voluntarily reviewed an advance copy of this book through Netgalley.

This is standard Baldacci. It starts slowly with overmuch detail and description. When it gets to the point it becomes a more demanding read. The person behind the catastrophe is really not a secret for long. It might make more active film than a book.

This was the first in a new series from David and follows John Puller a tough military police man. Due to its main character, it will get compared to Lee Child's Jack Reacher. That is a bit unfair, as this is a good story with good characters and should develop into a good series.